Before I switched over to the ever reliable and oddly soothing tones of David Dimbleby on the BBC, I watched the Alternative Election Night coverage on Channel 4. Whilst it was good in spots, it was a reminder of why The Daily Show can do this kind of thing so much better.
It felt like after every sentence there had to be a joke. I understand the main purpose of this program existing is comedy but that’s not all that the viewers want. I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t mind discussion on stuff that related to election night (and on a few occasions, chaired magnificently by David Mitchell, there were) in addition to all of the laughs. What’s more, interspersing Come Dine With Me, a program that clearly passed its sell-by date and featured part ‘journalist’, part face of all things wrong with journalism Rod Liddle, and You Have Been Watching, which admittedly was pretty funny, made it all feel a bit like a charity telethon…only with no charity. That would have been funny though – a giant Gordon Brown, Dave Cameron or Nick Clegg encouraging you to tweet in support of them.
When The Daily Show did their live election show in 2008, anchored by Jon Stewart and past correspondent Stephen Colbert, they got the balance just right. They balanced reporting live results and conversations with special guests with very good jokes. It’s because they realised that a joke every five seconds isn’t needed. They also had the added bonus of reporting at the end of the program the confirmed result that Barack Obama had won, which made the program go surpass comedy altogether. Mission accomplished.
I will welcome Channel 4 having another stab at an alternative election night but maybe less laughs and more light-hearted discussion would be great.
I totally agree. Some of the jokes were a bit cringey as well. David Mitchell was the best part of it. “We want to be ruled by the weird cubes!” He has the right personality for that kind of thing. Funny, but… you feel like he knows what he’s talking about! I don’t know whether he does or not, but he’s pretty good on QI… I think.
That Come Dine With Me was awful. I wish there’d been more of an emphasis on what was actually going on with the election! After the first part of Come Dine With Me, we turned over to BBC1 for the rest of its installments.